Abstract

We present herein a soft x-ray spectroscopy study on the electronic and magnetic properties of Mg1−xFexOythin films. A distinct shoulder feature on the absorption edge reflecting the unoccupied oxygen 2p states is evident in the intrinsic thin films, which diminishes upon Fe doping, while a pre-edge absorption feature (reflecting the O 2p-Fe 3d acceptor state) evolves with the same. Our findings demonstrate the reduction in the intrinsic holes as a result of charge-transfer hole doping. All the thin films display room-temperature ferromagnetism, and the saturation magnetization is found to increase from ca. 0.70 → 4.34 emu/cm3 on 7 at. % Fe doping.

Received 22 June 2012Accepted 07 August 2012Published online 23 August 2012

Acknowledgments:

The work at the ALS is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. M.K. acknowledges postdoctoral fellowships from the Swedish research council (VR) and Axel Hultgreńs memorial fund. H.Z. and X.H.S. acknowledge financial support from the National Basic Research Development Program of China (2010CB934500). Work at the Royal Institute of Technology (Department of Materials Science and Engineering) has been supported by the Swedish foundations; VINNOVA and Carl Tryggers Stiftelse. M.F. wishes to acknowledge financial support by the Chinese Scholarship Council for her Ph.D. study.

Key Topics

[Magnets or magnetic bodies characterised by the
magnetic materials therefor; Selection of materials for their magnetic
properties, Magnets or magnetic bodies characterised by the magnetic materials therefor; Selection of materials for their magnetic properties]